


Harvest Home

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Children, F/M, Family, Friendship, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-11
Updated: 2007-04-11
Packaged: 2019-05-15 11:36:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14789765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Everyone wants the Concannons at their Thanksgiving dinner table.





	Harvest Home

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Harvest Home**

CJ/Danny, Donna/Josh, Ginger/OMC, mentions of Carol/OMC, Toby/Andy, Jed/Abbey, others

R/Adult – some sex

Spoilers through end of series

Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul

Feedback and criticism always welcomed

Note: Paul has informed my muse and me that we made a grievous mistake. He did not change his mind about law school until after his second year and CJ’s junior year. “Auld Lang Syne” is being rewritten to correct our mistake and will be updated/reposted soon.

\----------------------------------------------------  
 _Early evening, November 8, 2009, Santa Monica, CA_

They lay together in peaceful, satiated contentment. When his engorgement had shrunk to the point that it slipped from her of its own accord, he had shifted his right leg outside hers and his right shoulder to the bed beside hers, but he still lay on her, planting little kisses on the side of her neck and her left shoulder blade. His right arm nestled around her head on the pillow, lightly resting on her left ear. She still clasped his left hand in hers, planting little kisses of her own on his knuckles. They were each becoming drowsy and he disengaged his left hand to reach down to pull the covers over the both of them.

“Dammit!”

“Danny?” she asked, turning onto her left side.

“Cramp,” he said through gritted teeth.

CJ could see the rigid tension in his left calf; saw the left big toe stuck out at a sixty-degree angle to the others on his foot. She crawled down to the foot of the bed and, applying pressure against the foot while massaging the calf, relaxed muscles and tendons to the point where they slipped into their natural state. She kissed his ankle and then reclaimed her place alongside him.

“Sorry for breaking the mood.” He softly spoke against the side of her head.

“Sooner or later, Paddy would have done it. Times have changed.”

Last year and the year before, they had developed this custom of not speaking while making love with each other on this day, the anniversary of the day after Santos’ victory and Leo’s death, the day they consummated the relationship that had been building for so many years.

They did not approach it as if they were reenacting a Civil War battle; they didn’t wear the same type of clothing or use the same positions. But they did observe total silence from the time one of them approached the other until they woke the next morning.

This evening, Danny had been working on Percy Fitzwallace’s biography in the den when CJ came to him wearing the midnight blue toga-style nightgown that Abbey Bartlet had given her. She was carrying a cut crystal tumbler of “MacDonald moonshine”. Looking into his eyes, she took a sip and handed it to him. He took a sip, set down the glass, and, his arm at her shoulders, hers at his waist, they walked to the bedroom to begin their ritual.

Now they lay for a few minutes in companionable silence. He gingerly flexed his left foot, not wanting to set off the cramping and spasms again.

They were just dozing again when Paddy stirred, whimpered, and then cried aloud. With a slight sigh, Danny started to get out of bed.

“I’ll do it.”

“No, I can do it.”

“Really, it’s no –“.

“Let’s both do it,” he said, “I’m a little hungry anyway. You?” As she nodded her head, he reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of royal blue pajamas with the Cal Bears logo. Throwing her the top, he put on the bottoms and went to fetch his son. “You start the bottle; I’ll check and change him.”

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were at the kitchen table. CJ was giving the baby a bottle and some applesauce. She was also eating the bite-sized pieces of tuna melt that Danny was feeding her in between eating some himself. When Paddy reached for a piece, he scraped the tuna and cheese mixture onto the small spoon with the initials “P.R.” engraved on the back that had been a baptismal gift from the Bartlets.

“I’ll take over with the applesauce.”

As he spooned the fruit into his son’s mouth, she brought out a bottle of white wine and poured each of them a glass.

“You’ll eat the fruit stuff and the meat stuff and the starch stuff, kid o’ mine,” Danny said, “why don’t you like the veggie stuff? Both Mama and I like our veggies.”

“But we don’t eat canned or bottled,” CJ said, “just fresh or maybe frozen. Maybe we can try puréeing stuff in the blender and seeing if he does better with that.”

“CJ, your brother called again earlier today, restated the invitation to go up to Napa for Thanksgiving”.

“Four days without you in school or teaching. I just want the time for us. I don’t care if we watch football and basketball the whole time, or if you have to study or grade papers, or if I have to read umpteen jillion reports, as long as we can do it beside each other in comfortable clothes and not too many of them. That’s what I told Abbey when she called and asked us to join their clan. That’s what you told Erin when she asked if we wanted company for that weekend. That’s why I’m glad that Hogan is meeting her submariner in Greece and not coming here. That’s what I told Frank and Sarita when they asked us up to San Luis Obispo. I’m almost tempted to skip going up to Joel and Hannah’s for dinner, but I would have to explain and I would go on and on and you would get that funny look in your eyes and that smile on your face, and then one of us would have to cook.”

The Feldman family had claimed Thanksgiving as their own when they moved onto the block some 10 years ago. Everyone who had no place else to go and who wasn’t having guests themselves (and even some of the latter if the number of guests was small) were expected to have Thanksgiving with Joel and Hannah. Hannah began preparing two or three weeks in advance and always took off the entire week of Thanksgiving from her job at UCLA’s Arts Library. As happens in most families, the food was a combination of the traditional Thanksgiving fare (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, the ubiquitous green bean/mushroom soup/french-fried onion dish) and ethnic specialties. In Hannah’s case, that meant borscht, cheese blintzes, challah, plus two or three other vegetable dishes. To the inevitable “what can we bring” questions, Hannah answered, “appetizers, desserts, alcohol.” She also borrowed tableware, linens, card tables, and chairs. While the meal was served buffet-style, everyone ate at tables with proper glassware, cutlery, and dishes.

It really was very nice. Dinner was served at 3:00 or so, depending on when the turkeys were done, but people started gathering “anytime after 10:00” to watch the parades and the football games and to try not to ruin their appetites on all the goodies that everyone brought. The first year, CJ and Danny were “the new kids on the block”, but everyone made them feel welcome (when Joel said the blessing, he included “the addition of CJ and Danny to our block” in the list of things for which they were thankful) and they enjoyed themselves very much. In retrospect, it was the start of their becoming “normal”, of realizing that they were indeed going to become very good and enjoy being very good at this new phase of their lives.

Last year, they had driven up to Napa to the winery that her brother and sister-in-law ran for Gina’s family. In its own way, it was also very nice. The huge extended family ate outside overlooking the vineyards and the sunny warmth added to the sense of the holiday. CJ had warned Danny that the huge plates of antipasti and the big bowls of fresh-made pasta with homemade sausage that Gina’s mom had on the table was not the entire meal. She told him that when she and Paul went up there her junior year, he assumed that the Italian family ate differently than the rest of the country and filled up on the pasta course. Then when the regular full Thanksgiving meal appeared, he picked at it and had to explain why he wasn’t eating.

But this year, they were staying put, both for Thanksgiving and for Christmas (“Paddy is going to have most of his early Christmases in his own home,” Danny insisted. “The kids next to us growing up were always at one set of grandparents on Christmas Eve and at the other set on Christmas Day. Santa never came to their house; they never opened any presents in their own house. My dad thought it was a crime.”)

After the breast lump scare of last month, the two of them decided that they needed to make sure that their lives were not so busy that they didn’t have time for talking and sharing with each other. They set aside time everyday (after breakfast on the weekends, in the evening after his class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) when they would talk about anything and everything related to their marriage and to themselves. They would not answer the phones or the door. Only Paddy took precedence over “their time”.

One of the first things they decided was their planned travel for the next year. With Danny’s classes, both taking and teaching, not to mention her work with “Road to a Better World”, they needed to keep late August through mid-May free of major jaunts. Carol’s wedding on the third weekend in May and Ginger’s planned reunion in late July would take them to the east coast; so might Zoey and Charlie’s, if the two of them ever picked a date. Erin was pressing them to come to Ireland and they could handle that after Ginger’s thing. Other than that, their travel would have to be restricted to the occasional long weekend.

“CJ, we can always get some frozen dinners and nuke them. The only thing I really want to do is watch ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, the original with Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, and Natalie Wood in black and white.”

“No, Joel and Hannah’s will be fun. I told her I’d make the little hot dogs in currant jelly-bourbon-mustard sauce, so it won’t be a lot of work on my part. Just promise me we won’t have to leave the house on Friday. If we did go up to Napa, Gina would want to take me to all the ‘Black Friday’ hoopla.” She began to pick up their dishes and glasses and headed toward the dishwasher.

He looked down at a sleeping Paddy, and stood up. “Like I’m going to drag you to a mall. Let’s get him back in the crib and let’s you and I get back to other things.” He picked up the baby.

“Oops.” A knife fell out of the silverware basket and onto the bottom of the dishwasher. She bent over from the waist to retrieve it. The pajama top slid up and her entire backside was uncovered to his view.

The effect on him was instantaneous, both physically and emotionally. On the one hand, there was lust – it was the only way to describe what he was feeling for her. On the other hand, he was very much aware of his child in his left arm, cradled against his chest. For the first time, he thought he sensed what she must feel when both he and Paddy needed her.

He gently put his free hand on her posterior just as she started to straighten. “Please, stay - ” he said hoarsely.

She held still for a few seconds while he continued to caress her. “Danny, I’m gonna need some support, maybe a chair if we –“.

He moved up behind her, letting her feel his arousal against her. Then he put his free arm around her lower rib cage and pulled her upright.

“I’ve got Paddy in my other arm; there’s no way I could manage - ,” he laughed lightly. “I just can’t explain what and how I felt when I saw you bent over like that. It was so erotic; I just had to touch you.” He kissed the back of her neck, turned her toward the other side of the house, and walked her over to the nursery, where they put their son in his crib, kissed him goodnight, and then put one of the overstuffed easy chairs in the bedroom to good use.

_Wednesday evening November 11, 2009_

“CJ, honey, come on and sit?” he stretched out a hand to her. He had cooked supper tonight (salmon steaks, rice, and broccoli) and she was putting away the leftovers.

“Danny?” she noticed the typed pages on thick cream-colored letterhead in his other hand.

“I got this from a solicitor – a law firm – in Scotland today. It seems that Brianna left me a small cottage about an hour northwest of Inverness, something she inherited from her first husband.”

“You now have property in Scotland?”

“We now have property in Scotland; I mean, I’m the one in the will, but you know that we share - . Anyway, there’s a third cousin of Jem’s who would really like the cottage, it’s next to his property, would like something to give to his younger son, wants to keep Ogilvie land in the clan, et cetera, and has offered to buy it. Part of me wants to just deed over the rights, I mean if it’s family land and all. Part of me thinks that Brianna wanted me to have something and that I shouldn’t just discard it, that it would dishonor her memory. And part of me wants to make sure that you are okay with all of this?”

She bent over to kiss him. “I have no problem with what was between you and Brianna, you know that. Maybe selling it would be the best way to go. That way we could enjoy something in her memory. Did they mention a number?”

“Fair market value would be about $250,000, our money. I was thinking, it probably wouldn’t be enough to buy a place up north, unless it was rather primitive, but it would be very substantial equity on something small, away from the coast.”

“That might be nice. As I said before, I do want indoor plumbing and running water, hot and cold. And a bedroom with a door. Electricity would be nice, but I could make do with a generator. I don’t need a super-fancy refrigerator or stove and I don’t need a dishwasher. Why don’t you call Erin and Robin tomorrow and ask them what they think?”

“Good idea. Now tell me more about your day.”

“I think I bit off a little more than I can chew, trying to have six building projects going at once.”

“Are you going to have to suspend a couple of them?”

“No, the teams are all in place and working together fine. What I would like to propose to the board is to give Nancy and Bonnie promotions to something like administrative vice-presidencies and hire each of them assistants. I’m thinking that they could each oversee three or four at a time, eventually, and I could handle two or three along with everything else I do. Glen needs surgery on his knee sometime soon, so I’ll have to do a bit more fund-raising for a while. The next board meeting isn’t until February, though, and I don’t want to give them the responsibility without the titles. It wouldn’t be fair.” CJ sighed and curled up against his chest.

“This isn’t something you can do on your own?” Danny asked.

“Responsibility, sure. Raises, no problem. But vice-presidencies, nope, have to go to the board for titles.”

“Why don’t you sound out the Hollis’ on the subject? If they’re on board with you, the others will be a snap. I just don’t want you overburdened these next few months. Sometimes I hate the holiday season.”

“I know. Sometimes I wish that Thanksgiving wasn’t a de facto four-day weekend for almost everyone outside of retail and banking. Everybody wants us to visit; I just want to veg out.”

_Thursday November 12, 2009_

“Really, CJ, it would be no trouble. My mother-in-law likes to do the real traditional food based on the Plymouth Rock cookbooks, so there will be lots of seafood as well as the usual stuff. Toby’s coming with Andy and the twins and I know he would love to see you. You have no idea how upset he was while you were waiting on the biopsies. I mean, you gave all of us a scare, we were so afraid for you, but he was so terrified for you. I was always closer to him than Bonnie was, so I think he used me for the emotional support he needed but felt he couldn’t ask of Andy. Rick’s sister and her brood will be here, and a couple of old maid aunts, but, like I said, the place has fifteen bedrooms, plus all the unused servants’ rooms on the fourth floor. The airport isn’t far with the bridge. I only wish I had thought to ask the Bartlets before they made all their plans.”

“Ginger, I’m sure that Thanksgiving in Newport would be absolutely fabulous and yes, Danny would enjoy sailing on Narragansett Bay. The idea of having clambake food without clambake sand is indeed heavenly. And the fact that I wouldn’t be expected to lift one little pinky finger to help sounds like nirvana. President Bartlet has already told me that having Thanksgiving in New England is like having Easter in Jerusalem. We just need the time to ourselves; we are counting the days like a 5 year-old does at Christmas.”

“Well, you can change your mind at the last minute, you know that. Listen, is the 27th of March a good day for you for Carol’s shower?”

“Let me check and get back with you. Ginger, I really appreciate your taking care of this for me. It would be hard for me to do all the leg work from the other side of the country.”

“CJ, it’s my pleasure. And it’s so easy. My mother-in-law’s social secretary is the woman who trained Lily Mays, so you know she’s good. And she is glad to have something to do. Since Mom and Arnie got married, they’ve become quite the reclusive little lovebirds. Thanksgiving will be the first time they’ve spent with company since the reception Rick and I threw when they got back from Aruba. My sister-in-law showed up at the Cape May place unannounced last weekend and caught them naked in the conservatory in the Japanese garden!”

“Well, it’s only been a month; they are still newlyweds.”

“But at their age?”

“More power to them. I hope Danny and I are still going at it when we’re that old.”

“Well, yeah, Rick and me, too. With those little pills if necessary.” Ginger suppressed a giggle.

_Saturday November 14, 2009_

“CJ, Margaret and Carol were so worried about you. I was, too, actually. We really would love to see you guys. And we could take you to see the place that Josh and I are really thinking about buying. It’s about an hour from here, near Quantico, in a little town called Widewater Beach, right next to a place called Fritter’s Corner. It’s right on the Potomac. The directions even include ‘after you leave the paved road’. I never imagined me in such a rural setting, I mean, even in Wisconsin, we lived in town.”

“Donna, like I’ve told everyone else, we are really looking forward to having the four-day weekend pretty much to ourselves. Also, we’re having Danny’s classes here on the 24th; sort of a non-alcoholic cocktail party, a chance for the kids to socialize and for Danny to interact with them outside of the classroom. He said that a couple of his professors at Notre Dame would do this and he really enjoyed the evenings; of course, back then, they could get away with serving wine to the students, even those who were underage. And getting plane tickets this late would be next to impossible. Anyway, I would have thought that you, Josh, and Noah would be going to Camp David with the Santos’?”

“Josh and I felt like we needed to do something on our own. We’ve been to Camp David the past two years. And just between you and me, I’m tired of fried turkey with molé barbeque sauce and jalapeño cornbread dressing, not cooked in the bird, thank God. I want to make my grandma Moss’ wild rice stuffing or my nonna’s Italian sausage stuffing and Josh wants his mom’s latkes and kugel. Anyway, I’ve invited Carol and her David, Cathy, Bram, Otto, Rina, Matt Skinner and his partner Eric, Margaret, and your friend Paul. And his kids, they’ll be visiting.”

“Then we’re definitely not coming; I don’t want him to suspect that I’m trying to fix him up. Thanks again for the invitation and good luck. I wouldn’t try a big dinner with a 14 week-old.”

“CJ, everyone else is bringing all the side stuff; we’re just doing the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and potatoes. And I’ve hired a cleanup crew for afterward.”

“So, now that you’ve met him, do you think Paul and Margaret would be good together or are you doing this just because I asked?”

“He is a nice man; I’m still not sure of the Margaret thing, but for you, I’m willing to plot a little. The bait is a special tour of the White House on Friday for him and the kids. Only I’ll be home sick and Margaret will take over the tour guide duties. Naturally, she doesn’t know a thing about it either. ”

“Well, you will definitely have to call and let me know how it went. Now, back to this place on the river. Do you see it as a weekend place or do you envision living there all the time?”

“Well, not right now, of course. Sometimes I think that the Santos’ would like to put up a modular home on the White House grounds for Josh, Noah, and me; or a FEMA trailer. But I’m kind of hoping that Josh would want to take a break from this heavy stuff after 2014. Maybe be an advisor or something. However, I think he has dreams of taking Sam out of California and to the White House. I can’t see Sam being ready for that in four years; hell, I don’t even know if he wants to aim higher. Have you talked with him lately? How are he and Morgan doing? Are they still upset about losing the baby? I know I would be.”

“I haven’t talked with him since last month when he stopped by while we were waiting on the pathology reports. I know they’re trying again because he made some comment about a two-day window and then blushed. Now, as far as higher office goes, I do think that Sam will at least run for president some day, but I agree with you that 2014 would be too soon. And if Santos wins again next year, and I think he will, the country might be ripe for a GOP POTUS, hopefully someone moderate. You know, Skinner should think about a senatorial or gubernatorial bid; he might be good as president some day.”

“Do you think we’ll see a gay president before a female or an African-American one?”

“Who knows? All I care is that he or she be intelligent and sensible.”

“CJ, my kid is crying. If you change your mind, you know you guys are more than welcome.”

“Maybe next year, especially if you have the place on the river. By the way, thanks for emailing the Halloween photo of Noah. That Hershey’s Kiss costume was just too cute; Paddy was a pumpkin, I’ll get Danny to email you a jpg. Kiss him and Josh for me and let me know how things go with Margaret and Paul.”

_Sunday November 15, 2009_

“Seriously, Abbey, I really need the time to get ready for the end of the semester and I think both CJ and I are emotionally drained from October. I know how beautiful it would be on the farm, maybe some other time.”

“Danny, I know that Jed and I were with you just last month, but the two of you really do feel like part of the family, more than any of the others. I guess it’s because the two of you are total orphans. Mallory and John are coming, as is Jenny. And of course all of our kids, Charlie and Deanna, Debbie and her guy. Zoey and Charlie will be getting married on July 3rd, plan to be here for the weekend at least. Oh, and Lord Marbury.”

“In that case, I’m definitely not exposing my wife to that man! You tell your husband that he is a saint for tolerating all the leering and salacious talk that Lord John throws at you.”

“See, that’s the thing – it’s all talk. I’m sure that if I were to respond, he would just about kill himself trying to back away from the situation.”

“Well, you may be a better judge of character than I, but I’m not risking my wife. Listen, maybe next year. Give my best to the President.”

_Monday November 16, 2009_

“Shove the mistress out the window, I’m home!” CJ entered the front hallway and stopped to look at the mail.

Danny’s voice came out of the den. “You flatter me. I barely have enough to keep you happy, let alone another woman.”

He swore as she walked into the room. “Another kid copied four paragraphs verbatim from Wikipedia.” He marked a big red “F” on the paper in front of him, threw it on the larger of the two piles on his desk, and reached up to meet her lips descending on his. Then he stood and draped his arms loosely on her shoulders and assumed his “I’m trying to be stern but failing at it” look.

“CJ, it’s 8:15 - ”.

“I know. The traffic was horrible coming back from San Diego; there was a bad wreck. I did leave there at 5:00. My cell battery died and I couldn’t find the charging cord. I’m really sorry.”

“I know you are, and I guess it couldn’t be helped. I was just so worried. Go see your son and I’ll get the food out.” He pushed her toward the other side of the house.

“You didn’t eat?”

“Like I said, I was so worried.”

Fifteen minutes later, having heated up some leftover chili, he opened two beers and followed the sound of CJ talking to Paddy. The two of them were on the bed. She was in a pair of ragged sweats, waving her hair in front of his hands. He was babbling two-syllable sounds, she was repeating simple sentences. “Grab Mama’s hair. Yes, you can. Yes you can.”

“Soup’s on,” he told her.

They took him with them to the table and set him in the cradle carrier with a rattle to keep him occupied. They dumped chili on lettuce, added extras (pico de gallo, cheese, and sour cream for him, just pico de gallo for her) and ate in companionable silence for a few minutes.

He took a gulp from his beer.

“Sam called. He invited us up to Sacramento for Thanksgiving.”

“No-o-o!” she groaned.

“It’s okay, I told him we needed the break for ourselves; he said he understood. However, he really wants us up there for the Christmas Ball on December 12th; it’s a Saturday, black tie. I checked with Diana and they could take Paddy for the weekend, especially if we can take Maggie the next weekend.”

“What about finals and stuff like that?”

“My exams are take homes, basically papers to write. I’ve already made some headway. The time slots for the two classes at Culver City are the next week. I think I have the exams finalized, so it should be no problem.” His voice got a little husky. “I always liked you in that gray dress from back in ’98.”

“If I can get into it, you’ve got it. The Hollis’ Christmas party is the Saturday before. Bonnie and Jean-Luc have offered us their guest room. It’s just cocktail party dressy. I’ll take your gray suit to the cleaners tomorrow.”

“Goo – gah – kaw- da- da- “.

“Did he just say?” CJ asked.

“It was just nonsense syllables; they don’t really know what they are saying for at least another 8 or 9 months.” Danny tried to sound blasé about it, but she could tell that he was beaming.

He noticed the little tear in her left eye. “And the ‘Di’ sound is easier to make than the ‘Mi’ sound.”

“It’s not that,” she wiped at it. “It’s just that he’s changing so fast. I mean, I’ll turn around, and the next thing I know, he’s walking. Or I’ll turn around, and he’ll be dating, or driving.”

“Hey, he still hasn’t mastered crawling yet. Although I think he’s getting there. Anyway, just don’t turn around,” he grinned at her.

She socked him in the head as she went to the refrigerator. She pulled out a cheesecake box and, lifting her eyebrows, silently asked him if he wanted a slice.

She put a small bit of the filling on her finger and gave it to Paddy.

“Do you think he might be ready for a high chair?” Danny asked CJ.

“I don’t know; I’ll check with Linda.”

She put some more cheesecake on her finger, but this time, she put her finger by Danny’s mouth. He did the same with his finger and her mouth.

The dishes were left until morning.

_Friday November 20, 2009_

“Yes, Mark, I do remember the time in ’90, but we live half a mile from a beach, so we will be spending Thanksgiving on one, as it were. But thanks for thinking of us. Eat a few crabs for me.”

_Tuesday November 24 2009 -- conversation snippets_

“Gee, Mr. Concannon’s wife seems smart; she knows a lot about how government works.”

“Shit, Jeremy, where have you been for the last 10 years? Don’t you know who she is? Look at that wedding picture on the mantel; that’s President Bartlet dancing with her. She was his Press Secretary for six and a half years and then she ran the White House for the man. Now she’s involved in some major project over in Africa for the CompuPod guy. Did you think she sat home all day and darned socks?”

“That phone call he took earlier; that was Governor Seaborn!”

“What’s the matter with Amber?”

“I think she’s realized that she can’t use her looks and her body to get a better grade in this class. Mrs. Concannon is really attractive and it’s obvious that they are in love with each other.”

“Omagod! Those are Pulitzers that he’s holding in those pictures!”

“Yeah, he has them in his den. Mrs. Concannon was telling Andy and me about them earlier.”

“Look at that picture! It’s the Queen!”

“I was in the kitchen with her and I offered to empty the garbage. He came in while I was just outside, he didn’t know I was there; boy, did he kiss her! I almost told them to get a room before I realized that a) they have one just over that way, and b) he is our teacher.”

“That baby is just too cute!”

“It’s nice of him to have us do this tonight instead of having class tomorrow morning. I have so much to do for Thanksgiving; it will be nice to have Wednesday morning for shopping.”

“Does anyone know why they have those little fishbowl ornaments in the flowers by the fountain?”

_Thursday November 26, 2009_

_Manchester, NH_

It was a cold and crisp day outside, not a cloud in the sky, the sun shining on the trees gilded in shades of amber, rust, orange, and umber, had already melted most of snow that had fallen that morning.

In the large country dining room, Jed stood at the head of the table, which was laden with food in pewter serveware dating from before the Revolution. He looked around at his wife, their daughters, their sons-in-law, their grandchildren, and their guests.

“Blessed God, we thank You for all You have given us. We thank You for the bounty of this table.

“We thank You for our freedom. We thank You for the love of family and friends, both present with us and miles apart. We thank You for our health. We ask You to remember our beloved departed, especially our brother Leo.

“We ask You for peace and for the courage to seek peace. We ask You to bless this planet and all that live on it. We ask You to give us the strength to be good stewards of this planet.

“And, as always, we ask this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

_Newport, RI_

The warm breezes of the Indian Summer day wafted off the whitecaps in the ocean and into the dining room of the stately Newport mansion. The table was set with fine linen, delicate bone china, brightly polished sterling, and sparkling crystal.

Rick stood at his mother’s right hand. He had gladly ceded the place at the head of the table to his new stepfather, but he had quietly asked that he be permitted to give the blessing this year. He smiled down to the end of the table, to the red-headed wonder that had become part of his life almost two years ago, who had taken his children as her own. Last Thanksgiving, he had thanked God aloud for Ginger; this year, he thanked Him in his heart, much as he did every day.

“Let us join hands and bow our heads in prayer.

“God of all, we thank You for the bounty spread before us, the bounty of earth, sky, and sea, and the work of human hands.

“We thank You for sending us Celia and Arnie to add new life and love to our family.

“We thank You for the friendship and the presence of Toby, Andy, Huck, and Molly, and for Aunt Melanie and Aunt Hallie.

“We thank You for the extraordinary wealth with which You have blessed our family and we ask You for the grace to always remember that because You have given us so much more, You expect so much more in return from us, from time and talent as well as treasure. May we always use what You have given us in the service of others.

“We are taught that You made us in your image; therefore, You must have a sense of humor. As good Episcopalians, we remember that ‘Wherever three or four are gathered, there’s a fifth’. And, as we learned at St. Alban’s:

‘Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:

Who eats the fastest, gets the most!’”

“Rick,” his mother admonished, “will you ever grow up?”

_Washington, DC_

It was chilly, misty and foggy. Leaves fell sullenly among the monuments of the city. However, the Lyman condominium was aglow with candlelight; the warmth of the fire in the living room was an echo of the warmth of the friendship that permeated the dwelling.

Rina, Otto, and Cathy were helping Donna with the food. Paul was talking with Carol and her fiancé, David; it turned out that David belonged to the same denomination as did Paul. Paul’s daughter was holding Noah and playing Slapjack with Margaret’s little boy, Bram, and Matt Skinner’s partner, Eric. Matt and Margaret were discussing politics with Paul’s son.

Josh Lyman stood by the fireplace, observing. He thought about Thanksgivings past, a bit about those with his parents in Connecticut, but more about the ones of the past ten years in the White House. Did he, Sam, and Toby really cause two turkeys to spend a weekend in CJ’s office? Were they really that, that, boyish, for lack of a better word?

They had spent that Thanksgiving together and now they were scattered. He wished they could all be together, the old gang, but he also realized that each of them were pursuing new things, new lives, and were probably much happier because of it.

Toby, with his ideals, was certainly well suited to the ivy-covered towers of Columbia. Perhaps he might even become happy enough to win back fair Andrea. In any event, Toby was the darling of the ivory tower university crowd. And that was a good thing. People like Josh, people down in the trenches of day-to-day government, needed the theoretical academic folks to hold their feet to the fire, to make sure that government did not get bogged down into ends justifying means, to make sure that the country understood that survival without a constitutional compass was not desirable; it would mean that while the geographic entity known as the United States of America might exist, the country, the nation conceived in 1776 and birthed in 1789, would cease to exist.

He missed Sam dreadfully at first and was even a bit upset with his leaving them back in February, but given the events of last August, it was, in retrospect, the right move for Sam. Everyone always said that Sam was destined for elective office. From what he gathered (and his gathering instincts were as sharp as ever), Sam would easily win the election next year, and since his current term would be less than two years, he could run again in 2014. After that, with any luck, Josh Lyman would have another president to conceive, nurture, and bring forth, assuming Sam wanted it and Donna didn’t mind his staying in the game. And Margaret had come into her own; her organizational skills were fast becoming legendary. Josh could spend his time dealing with policy. (Of course, having Amy and Hoynes to deal with the legislative arena was a big help.)

You only had to look at CJ for five seconds to know that she was truly happy in all aspects of her life. After eight years of actualizing Jed Bartlet’s agenda, she was putting forth one of her own, but in an arena that allowed her the happiness she shared with Danny. Seeing the two of them together, and now with their son, he was glad that she resisted Matt’s and his attempts to pull her into the current administration. Of all of them, CJ and Danny were living the most “normal” life, but he sometimes thought that the two of them were the happiest, the most fulfilled, of the old gang. Or at least, of the senior staff; if you added in the old assistants and aides, Ginger would certainly give CJ a run for the money for that title.

And then there was Donna. He remembered how upset he was when she left to work for Russell, how upset he was when he found out that CJ had encouraged her to look beyond her role as his assistant. But he now realized that the two of them needed it. They needed to be apart for three reasons.

One, she had to prove to herself that she could be more than an assistant. Two, he had to realize that she could be more than an assistant and needed to see her succeed on her own, without him. Third and most important, they both had to break away from the false sense of family, the kind of incest taboo, that working together imposed of them. There was no way they could have realized that they belonged together as husband and wife while they were functioning as brother and sister. Donna was guiding Helen Santos into her own as First Lady, much the same way that Leo guided Jed Bartlet. And in so doing, his wife was becoming noticed, a force of her own in politics. Once she got the academic credentials to go along with the street ones she was building, she could, if she wanted, move into higher circles. He realized, just now, that this could be a good thing. If he burnt out, or if Sam chose not to move beyond California, he could retire, write, or even teach, and Donna could support them. Hell, he was liberated enough to live off his wife.

So here he was, a real grownup hosting a real holiday party for coworkers and friends. Oh, and for a friend of a friend. Donna was a bit reticent about CJ’s friend Paul, only that CJ had asked her to help him when he moved to DC. Last week, when talking with Danny, he found out that this guy and CJ dated while they were both at Berkeley. He wished he could be as accepting of Donna’s old boyfriends as Danny seemed to be of this guy. But then, maybe this guy wasn’t as close to CJ, seeing he’s a minister and all. You would have thought that CJ would have dated the more radical types. But then, when he told Danny that Donna had invited him to Thanksgiving, he sensed that there was something else going on, something that Danny wasn’t quite so happy about. Oh, well, he had enough things to worry about. If and when he needed to worry about Paul, Donna would tell him.

The meal would be a bit cramped, with fourteen people in the condo. Next year, they would very well be having Thanksgiving in a house on the river. Wow, Joshua Lyman, country squire. Who would a thunk it?

Donna came over to let Josh know that everything was ready. He cleared his throat and asked for everyone’s attention.

“In a minute, I am going to impose upon Paul to say a more formal blessing. Sorry, Paul, I guess it’s a busman’s holiday for you. For now, I just want to say ‘Thank you’ to our Creator for all that he has given us this year, especially for the gift of Noah to Donna and me, and for bringing David into Carol’s life. I also want to thank all of you for sharing this day with Donna and me. You are welcome in our home. We treasure your friendship.”

_Santa Monica, CA_

The weather in southern California was unseasonably hot and sunny. Everyone on the block except for Clara, the Wei’s, and the Hammash’s were at the Feldman place, some on the deck enjoying the view of the mountains in the distance, some in the family room watching the Bears/Lions game, some in other parts of the house.

CJ walked into the Feldman living room and played with the hair on Danny’s neck as she passed behind him, then perched on the armrest of the chair in which he was sitting. She handed the plate of assorted hors d’oeuvres to Diana and held up the pitcher of spiced apple cider laced with Calvados. Frank, sitting next to Diana on one loveseat, and Danny raised their glasses to be filled. Steve and Jessica, sitting on the other, indicated that they were fine. She then picked up her own glass from the coffee table and topped off the beverage.

“Kids okay?” Diana asked CJ.

“Sound asleep within 30 seconds after I changed the both of them. When I walked in, your little slut of a daughter and our satyr of a son were lying there, head to toe, hands in, um, personal positions - .”

“On themselves or each other?” Danny asked, earning a swat on the side of his head.

“Jimmy Jenkins is in there with them. He was telling me he just finished a Pediatrics rotation at UCSF. Carmen and Cindy were clinging to his every word.”

“My women have deserted me for a younger man,” Steve put his right hand on his heart and sighed dramatically.

“Use ‘em or lose ‘em.”

“Jessica!” Diana exclaimed as Frank spewed his spiked cider all over the food on the table.

“They’re just fickle,” Danny opined. “They’ve just added Jimmy and his brother Timmy to their gaggle of unattainable crushes alongside you and Father Niko.”

“Danny was telling us about the class night on Tuesday,” Frank said. “He said that most of the guys were thoroughly enamored of you, that he was told by at least three of them that he was, and I quote, ‘one lucky dude’, and he overheard two of them speculating about the hot tub.”

CJ smiled. “Did he also tell you about the crest-fallen face of the one little bi- girl who realized that her flirting and suggestive outfit wasn’t going to get her the A she wanted?”

“CJ, I was onto Amber’s game five minutes after she walked into the classroom back in September. And if I hadn’t been, her reputation precedes her amongst the faculty.”

“Showtime in five minutes!” Drew Robbins, home from Berkeley for the holiday, came through the room. “The game will move to the TV on the deck and we will be showing ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ in the family room.”

Danny and CJ headed for the family room, while Frank, Steve, and Jessica moved toward the deck.

“I’ll check on Maggie and Paddy and then go see what kind of help Hannah needs,” Diana went toward the bedroom wing of the house.

A little over two hours later, the family room furniture had been removed and replaced with nine card tables and chairs, all set for dinner. Everyone stood around as Joel stepped to a table in the center of the room, a plate of challah and a knife in his hand.

“Thank you all for coming; thank you for your continued willingness to share this day with us. In a few minutes, we will serves ourselves from the food in the dining room, but before we eat, let us reflect on why we are gathered today.

“Thanksgiving is a truly unique feast; it is reflective of our common belief in a benevolent Creator without being reflective of what all too often divides us in the way we approach that Creator.

“Blessed art Thou, Lord, our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth”. He cut the bread into pieces.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe. We thank you for all with which You have blessed our lives this year. We thank you for Maggie and Paddy, for two new lives that bring joy to their parents and to all of us. We thank you for Frank’s promotion, for the recognition of his efforts in the defense of our country. We thank you for the new life that Sally carries, that will be with us in April, and ask that you keep her and the baby in Your care. We thank you for bringing CJ through frightening times, for keeping her healthy.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe. We thank you for each other, for the ties of friendship that are a reflection of our need for each other, for the entity of us that is so much greater than the sum of our individuality. We ask You to bless those who are traveling this holiday and are not with us, Clara in Fresno, Yan, Li, and Mei-Ling in Portland, and Wally, Aviva, and kids in Detroit.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe. We thank you for the freedom to worship You as we choose and for the other freedoms we enjoy and we ask You for the courage to defend those freedoms from all threat, both from without and from within.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe. We thank you for the opportunity to work, to provide for ourselves and each other. Our harvest in these times is not one of grain and grape, or of poultry and produce. The harvest most of us bring home in these times is one of words and deeds, of balance sheets and educational gain. But still we bring home the harvest through Your goodness. We thank you for the bounty spread before us, for the farmers who grew, the field workers who picked, the plant workers who prepared, the truckers who shipped, the grocers who stocked and sold, the cooks who created, and those who will later clean.

“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe. We ask you to continue to hold in Your providence all of Your creation. We ask You to bless the whole world, no exceptions. And most of all, we ask You to give all Your people the wisdom and courage to live in peace.”

“And now,” Joel concluded, “our children will lead us in song.”

“Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;

All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.

God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;

Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.”


End file.
